//------------------------------// // It's all in the hoof // Story: Consorting Strength // by Holocron //------------------------------// Trotting along after the bouncing pink mare, Bucephalus contemplated what sort of 'strong pony' Pinkie Pie was mentioning. 'Who is this strong mare?' He asked himself. 'Strong mares are not rare back home, but is this mare strong by my standards?' As they traveled more towards Sweet Apple Acres, Bucephalus took in the sights of the tree. 'It almost reminds me of the vineyards back home.' "We're here!" Pinkie announced, now bouncing around Bucephalus. "Welcome to Sweet Apple Acres!!" "I'll admit the smell of apple trees are quite refreshing." Bucephalus admitting. "Now where is the mare you spoke of?" "Oh she's over there." Pinkie pointed towards a galloping pony in the distance. The mare who Pinkie directed towards was an orange earth mare with a long, tied back blonde mane and a cowboy hat held on her head. Bucephalus looked at the mare with a degree of skepticism. Maybe this mare wasn't as strong as he expected. Just as Bucephalus was ready to walk away until he heard a loud noise. THUD! The sudden noise of a hard impact ran through Bucephalus body. He could feel the vibration from his hooves to his chest. Quickly turning around to see the source of such a feeling, he saw the same farmer mare, but this time she carried a large barrel full of apples on her back and there was one tree that was empty of apples. He wasn't sure what the reason was, but this new revelation brought a faint smile across Bucephalus's face. Whoever this mare was, he was interested in knowing. "See, see?! Oh you missed it!" Pinkie said in a disappointed manner, to which Bucephalus just put his large hoof on her mouth to shut her up. "Just tell me, who that mare was and how did she do that?" Bucephalus asked. "Show me where she dwells." "Oh where she lives? Sure!" Pinkie smiled, bouncing towards the barn house. "Just follow me." Arriving at the house, Pinkie knocked at the door. "APPLEJACK? YOU HOME?" "Howdy Pinkie." Said a small voice when the door opened, revealing Applejack's little sister. "Oh hey Applebloom." Pinkie smiled at the small yellow and red filly. "Where's ApplejacK?" "Oh she's in the barn storing apples with Big Mac." Applebloom pointed towards the barn. Then her small eyes looked up at Bucephalus, who by comparison was almost four times her size. "Who's your friend?" "Oh this is Bucey." Pinkie said, to the great aggravation of Bucephalus. "I am Bucephalus of Manedonia." Bucephalus corrected. "Bu...ce...pha...lus...?" Applebloom tried to pronounce out, and mildly succeeded; much to Bucephalus relief. "Thank you for being able to properly pronounce it small one." Bucephalus nodded, then turned towards the barn and started walking. "But I must speak with your sister." Bucephalus walked towards the barn, his thoughts continued to question how strong this Applejack was. Or at the very least, could she show him a kind of strength Helestia mentioned? Reaching the large red doors, Bucephalus knocked on them to call for Applejack's attention. Only waiting a couple minutes, the doors opened, but it wasn't the mare Applejack who opened the door. But a much larger stallion. A red stallion with an orange mane and a farming yolk around his strong looking neck and shoulders. Even Bucephalus was impressed with how strong this stallion must be, he was only a few inches shorter than Bucephalus, but he almost radiated strength and power. 'Maybe I was looking for the wrong pony?' Bucephalus thought. 'This one looks much stronger.' "Heyya Big Mac!" Pinkie smiled at her large cousin. "Is Applejack busy, I got somepony I want to introduce." "Greetings." Bucephalus greeted. "I am here for a mare named Applejack. I was informed she lived here." Big Mac said nothing; only fully opened the barn door, stepping outside, and facing Bucephalus. Only an inch shorter, Big Mac could still stare Bucephalus directly in the eye. Pressing his hooves down on the soft dirt, making a small indent, Big Mac gritted his teeth, tensing his muscles, yet flexing to show he was a mass of bulk and power. Bucephalus only grinned at the sight and decided to show off too. Taking a similar position, Bucephalus tensed his muscles, flexing in a slightly different manner that Big Mac; showing off more his upper muscle, chest, and shoulders to the farm stallion. The two large earth stallions stared each other down with their displays of strength, each not willing to back down. Pinkie only watched in utter confusion, Bucephalus and Big Mac continued flexing their massive frames, and their intense eyes never leaving the other. But this little match of muscle was to come to an end soon. The two muscular stallions were reaching their breaking point. Sweat beaded from their bodies, muscles twitched, and veins looked ready to pop from the pressure. Just as the two large stallions were at a breaking point from the tension, they reared their forehooves up, as if to strike the other. But instead of hooves striking the other, both stallions' extended their hooves in a friendly hoof shake. Both their eyes sparking with approval, no more so than Bucephalus himself. "We are the same you and I." Bucephalus could almost cry from the experience. Since leaving his home for this journey, he had long given up that anypony could match the strength of his home. This strong stallion, this Big Mac was proof that there could be strong ponies outside his tribe. "Eeyup." Big Mac nodded with a sincere smile. Then turning back towards the inside of the barn. "Applejack is inside." "Thank you." Bucephalus nodded, patting Mac on the shoulder, walking in the barn. The inside was filled with large cubes of hay, all stacked in a pile. The aroma of hay, fermented apples, and a slight hint of sweat. It all reminded Bucephalus of home. He let out a small sigh of nostalgia, he was only in this town for less than a day, and in the time he’s been there, all he could think about was his home. Now, more so than before, Bucephalus was determined to find whatever strength this town could offer. After a couple seconds, you find Applejack, currently loading apples into large barrels and then stacking the barrels. "Almost done." Applejack said with a smiling, wiping the sweat from her brow. "Here we go." With an arching of her back, she was able to stack the last barrel. "Impressive." Bucephalus said, almost clapping his hooves. "Those barrels are perhaps forty-five kilos each, but you stack them as if they were only five." "Uh why thank you." Applejack responded, kinda confused as to who this large stallion was. "Uh who are you?" "I am Bucephalus of the Stronghoof tribe in Manedonia." Bucephalus said with pride on her face, making sure to puff out his chest a little. "But you can call him Bucey!" Pinkie added, much to Bucephalus dissatisfied expression. "Bucephalus?" Applejack tilted her head. "And where is Manedonia? Well whoever you are, what you doing here in Ponyville?" "Well for one, thank you for being able to actually pronounce my name." Bucephalus nodded, getting to the point. "I am here to find strength. The strength to help my country. So I was told by this pink one here that you are strong." Bucephalus then looked around the barn, taking in the sights of the apple barrels and stacks of hay. "I can see you are strong." Bucephalus also noticed Applejack's frame was not as muscular up close. "But I am curious how you became strong? How do you take down the apples with mere hooves? You seem so-" "If the next word I hear from you is 'small', I'll be sending you through the trees." Applejack said in a calm, yet angry manner. Bucephalus raised an eyebrow, he hadn't been threatened in any way since his younger days back home. Eager to see how this young mare would respond, Bucephalus decided to call Applejack's bluff. "Smal- Bucephalus didn't even finish the word he felt Applejack introduce him to Bucky Magilligan and Kicks McGee. The impact was not a painful one, but the rear hooves had enough force to knock Bucephalus off his hooves, on his back, and couple meters away. The large stallion's eyes were wide open in surprise. He hadn't been struck like that in years. Slowly getting up, Bucephalus's face bore the most pleasant and eager smile. "Young Applejack." He said, his tense body walking over to Applejack, who was ready to give him a round two to the face. But just as another bucking was to take place, Bucephalus placed his hoof on Applejack's shoulder. "Thank you." "Uh!? What?!" Applejack responded in confusion. Even Pinkie looked confused. "I have been on my search for months and not a single place aside from my own country have shown even a small amount of strength." Bucephalus smiled, patting Applejack's shoulder a tad. "But since coming here, and seeing both you and your brother, I am confident there is strength here." He then bowed his head slightly. "So would you kindly, show me how you have become so strong?" "Well, I'll show ya." Applejack said, not put off but rather feeling a tad awkward at Bucephalus's request. Guiding him out of the barn, Applejack gestured her hoof at the fields of apple trees. "Well, here we are." "So you gain this power from bucking at the apple trees?" Bucephalus asked, a bit skeptical that this would qualify for even an exercise, let alone what he was after. "Uh yes." Applejack responded. "Are you calling me a liar?" "No. Lying means you're intentionally keeping it a secret." Bucephalus shook his head. "What I'm calling you is delusional. There is no way working all those trees, even alone, would yield what you just displayed." Applejack let out an annoyed grunt, and crooked an eyebrow. "Fine, follow me." She then turned to Big Mac. "Hey Big Mac, take the rest of today off, Bucephalus here will take your place today." "Eeyup." Big Mac responded, patting Bucephalus on his shoulder with a nod. Looking at the vast amounts of trees, Bucephalus looked for something, anything that made this look challenging. Shrugging his shoulders, Bucephalus walked towards the first tree. From what he could guess, all he had to do was strike the tree and the apples will come down…simple. Pulling back his forehooves, Bucephalus struck the tree in a loud thud, crack, and breaking sound. Not only did every apple, ripe and still growing fall, but the whole tree fell over. “WHAT THE BUCK!?” Applejack shouted. “How, what?!” “I didn’t expect it to be so brittle?” Bucephalus said aloud, looking at the broken stump and his hoof. “You broke a tree?!” Applejack said in both anger and confusion. “How could you do that?!” “I didn’t mean to.” Bucephalus replied, not in remorse but just in a neutral response. “I only did the same thing you did, I hit the tree to get apples. It’s not my fault you have such brittle trees.” “You have to buck it softly.” Applebloom explained, trotting up besides Applejack and Bucephalus. “Softly?” Bucephalus asked. “From what I heard, you hit the tree hard.” “Hard enough to get the apples.” Applejack explained, pointing at the knocked down tree. “But soft enough where that doesn’t happen.” “I don’t do soft.” Bucephalus replied. “Soft doesn’t get the job done.” “I’m just telling you how apple bucking is done.” Applejack said, bucking a tree and only knocking down the ripe apples. “If you don’t think you can do it, then you’re free to leave.” Bucephalus only responded with a low growl as he slowly approached the next tree. ‘I will not lose to some arbor or some pomum.’ Bucephalus thought to himself as he set himself to hit the next tree. “Here we go.” Bucephalus’s hoof indented the tree, but was off center, causing a large chunk of the tree trunk to shatter off. And once again, every apple fell atop Bucephalus. "ARGHH!!" He shouted, backhoofing the same battered tree, sending a decently sized chunk hurtling at Applebloom. "Look out!" Applebloom was unable to react fast enough, the chunk was about to hit her. But at the very last moment, the large mass of muscle that was Big Mac took the chunk of wood; shattering it against his body into large splinters. "Big Mac?!" Applebloom said, a few small tears forming when she saw some bits of wood sticking out of him. "Are you okay?" Despite the obvious pain he should be in, Big Mac turned to his little sister with a gentle smile. "Eeyup. Go to Applejack." "O-okay. I'll get Applejack." Applebloom said, running off to find her sister. Bucephalus stood there, frozen in what just happened. Big Mac was easily a dozen meters away from where they were, but in the instant his sister was in danger, he just showed up, took the brunt of the debris and acted like it was nothing. Before Bucephalus could say or do anything, Big Mac trotted up to Bucephalus, and with a swift motion, punched the strong pony across the face; knocking some wind out of Bucephalus and sending him on his knees. Coughing from the sudden assault, Bucephalus looked up to Big Mac but couldn't think of anything to say. "I don't know where you're from." Big Mac said in one of his rare moments of talking. "You are strong, but you have no control." Bucephalus was about to speak, to defend himself, but his words were cut short before they could begin. "Nothing is so strong as gentleness, and nothing is so gentle as real strength. Think about that for a while, and don't you ever endanger my family again." Big Mac then trotted away to pull the wooden splinters from his body; leaving Bucephalus. Sitting alone, Bucephalus's mind thought of what just occurred. 'I know I shouldn't have.' He thought to himself, trying to understand it all. 'I'm glad that little one wasn't hurt. But that Big Mac was able take that attack and he did not so much as flinch.' He then looked back at the broken tree. 'Gentle? To be gentle is to have real strength? What does that mean? I have to make it up to them. I have to make this right though....But how? I do not know them well enough to know how to make this right.' While Bucephalus thought about his next step, the sudden sound of a certain pink mare than rang in his ears. "Hey Bucey!!" 'Oh great, it's that one.' Bucephalus thought, then a spark went off in his head. 'Wait, she's friends with Applejack, she can help me.' Bucephalus got up to face where Pinkie was coming from, but when he turned around, his eyes went wide with surprise. Trotting besides Pinkie was a sight Bucephalus never believed he would see anywhere outside his home. A purple mare was besides Pinkie, but it was not her horn that stood out; she had wings and a horn, she was an Alicorn. 'There's no way?!' Bucephalus thought to himself, mind racing. 'Even in this country, there are still gods?!" "Heyya Bucey!" Pinkie said, hugging Bucephalus; but due to his surprise, he allowed it. "Have was Applejack? Oh have you met my friend Twilight? Twilight, this is my friend Bucey." "Hello." Twilight greeted, bowing her head with a smile. "But uh, what is he doing?" Pinkie looked back at Bucephalus, to find he was currently prostrating himself, his face all but buried in the dirt. "Forgive me." Bucephalus said, not sure why a goddess would come to him personally, obviously it had to be punishment, for his near accident earlier. "I was ignorant and unaware that a goddess lived here. I will accept any punishment for my transgression and rudeness." "Punishment?" Twilight tilted her head. "What are you talking about? Also, I'm not a god, I'm an Alicorn." "Where I am from." Bucephalus replied, his face still on the ground. "Alicorns are the earthly incarnations of our gods." Then he tilted his head slightly to gesture at Pinkie. "I was also unaware this mare here was your servant. I am deeply sorry for my actions here, and that I almost hurt that young filly." "You almost hurt Applebloom?!" Pinkie said, her tail sticking out in surprise. Turning towards the farm, Pinkie sped off. "Bucey right?" Twilight asked, walking close to Bucephalus. "Is Applebloom okay?" "It's actually Bucephalus your grace." Bucephalus replied. "And she is fine, the larger stallion jumped in front of her. Please before I am to be punished, I only wish to make it right to them. But I do not know how." Placing her hoof on his shoulder, Twilight smiled gently. "I'll help you, I'm sure we can all talk this out. But first, why don't you come with me, I want to know more about where you're from." "Shouldn't we settle the matter now?" Bucephalus asked in a respectful manner, ever cautious of this Alicorn's potential wrath. "Pinkie will talk to Applejack, but right now may not be the best time to approach her." Twilight smiled. "Come on, I'm curious where you're from." "I will tell you all you need to know your grace." Bucephalus said, not moving from his bow. "Okay. Why don't you come with my, I have some books I can write in back at the castle." Twilight gestured Bucephalus to follow. "Also, if you don't mind, you can just call me Twilight." "Yes your- I-I mean Twilight." Bucephalus slowly getting up from his gesture, and started following behind Twilight. The Castle of Friendship, the massive tree-like crystal that stood in the near center of Ponyville stood high. To Bucephalus, it was quite the sight. Only back in Manedonia, has he seen such a structure. It certainly looked out of place among the rural, and wooden houses. Twilight nodded and guided Bucephalus into the palace, one thing that stood out was the lack of guards, servants, not even one priest or acolyte was in sight. 'If this a temple.' Bucephalus thought. 'The citizens are lucky their patron goddess is so kind as to tolerate this.' "Here we are." Twilight said, opening the large double doors that lead to the central room. The room was empty of any of the mane six, only Spike was napping in her marked chair. While the large table held the ethereal map of Ponyville. "This is the Castle of Friendship's Throne room." Bucephalus took immediate note of the amount of chairs, and Spike. "Uh Twilight?" Bucephalus tried to ask as respectfully as possible. "Are you the only god here? I can only assume the other chairs belong to other gods. And where are your servants? The priests, the acolytes? There's not even an echoing prayer." Then he gestured at Spike. "And your familiar is rather...modest." "Maybe you should explain your home and culture first." Twilight smiled, gesturing towards Applejack's chair. "Have a seat, while I get some books and scrolls." Twilight trotted over to Spike, gently nudging him to wake him up. "Spike? Spike? I need your help." "Hmm wha?" Spike said, wiping the sleepie from his eyes. "Oh hey Twilight. Who's your friend?" "This is Bucephalus. He's from another country that isn't on the map." Twilight said with a grin. "So can you bring me a few blank scrolls and books?" "Sure." Spike said, getting up and walking out of the room. "This temple is quite remarkable" Bucephalus complimented as he and Twilight waited for Spike to return. 'The seat I'm in now bears the same cutie mark as Applejack. Is she another god in disguise, or a demi-god perhaps?' "Twilight if I may ask?" "You don't have to be so formal." Twilight smiled. "Just be yourself, be casual." "Okay." Bucephalus nodded. "Applejack and Pinkie Pie are your servants right?" "Uh No. No no no." Twilight shook her head. "I don't have any servant. They're my friends." "I see." Bucephalus responded, noticing that Spike had returned. "Here you are Twilight." Spike said, placing a pile of blank scrolls and pages on the table. "Now if you'll excuse me." Spike let out with a yawn. "I'm gonna go take a nap." "Your familiar is quite...unique." Bucephalus commented. "He's not my familiar." Twilight chuckled, getting the pages organized and getting an ink well. "He's my brother." Bucephalus didn't even question it; a goddess having a dragon as a sibling was not the most surprising or strange thing he's ever heard. "So...Twilight. What would you like to know?" Twilight's eyes sparkled with the thrill of learning something new and exciting. "Everything! Everything you can tell me about your tribe, your home, your culture; everything." "Very well." Bucephalus responded. "And then you shall help me with my debt to Applejack?" "I promise." Twilight nodded with a smile, dipping her quill in the ink. “Now let's begin." Back in the country of Manedonia, unrest shook the senate chamber. Inside were three senators, all were elderly earth stallions. All were bald and wore the robes of a senator. All three were against the idea of Bucephalus rising to consort to the king, but agreed to his leaving on his journey. They had hoped that he would simply die along his journey, but now they were getting worried. "What if he returns?" One senator asked. "If he does return, then that fool will be the King's Consort." The other senator answered. "The King's radical plans for expansion is one thing, but if Bucephalus is there, then we will have a new problem. We cannot have our country merge with those barbarians. I, for one, do not want a repeat of many lives were lost to the other city-states?" "Gentle colts please." The third senator called. "I have a plan to deal with that foolish child." "And what do you propose?" The first senator asked. "You may come in." The third called to the door. Entering the room was a deep green earth stallion. His dirt brown mane almost covered his piercing yellow eyes. His cutie mark bore a crimson pony skull with a knife through it. "I believe you have met my son Antenor?" "Antenor?!" The other senators asked at once. "What are you planning?" "Tell them of your plan my son?" The third asked. "I will find Bucephalus." Antenor answered, very calmly, and very coldly. "And I shall ensure he will not damage the kingdom, the country, or anyone else."